Relay-movement.



W. L HWE. RELAY VEMENT,

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. so, 1011.

- TED sTATEs- PATENT onirica.

WINTHROP K. lHOWE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL RAILWAY Y SIGNAL COMPANY, 0F GATES, NEW YORK, A COR-PORATION 0F NEW YORK.

RELAY-MOVEMEN T.

To all whom it may concern:

lBe it known that I, WINTHRoP K. Howie, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Rochester, in the county of Monroeand State of New.York, have invented a` new and useful Relay-Movement, of which the following is aspecification.

This .invention relates to a relay move-v .J ement.

.f :the center.`

:The object` .ofV this invention is to so construct a relay movement that it may be usedV inra three position relay, that is, so that with no vforce acting upon it, it will-assume :qa neutral position, but with force acting upon fit-in one direction, it willassume a position to one side of the center and with foreeactinguponit in the other direction it will assume a yposition to they other side of A further object of theinvention is to so arrange the mechanism of a relay movement that it may be easily transformed into a two position relay movement, that is, it will I; normally have a bias in one direction which will be overcome when force is exerted upon the relay movement .to4 move it to another position.

It is further .an` object of this invention to construct a three position relay which will to absolutely insure the return of a part to' a certain position, for in railway1 signaling devices the failure of a part to return to a certain predetermined position may result in the loss of many lives. lt will be later pointed out, however, that the mode of operation and the functions performed by 1pplicants vdevice cannot be obtained by the use of springs without undue complication.l

A further object of the inventionis to produce a relay in which movement will take place either to or 'from a normal position upon'the slightest change of the value of the Specification of Letters Patent.

- tached ij Rice,

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

Application ed September 30, 1911. Serial No. 652,156.

current from a predetermined value, that is to produce a relay in which the pick-np and drop-away values are practically equal.

In order to render the invention readily intelligible applicant has-shown a preferred embodiment of the invention by a single figure upon the accompanying sheet of drawing in which like reference characters denote like parts.

1, designates a pinion which may be atrny suitable manner tojthe armature 'shalt of a relay motor, such, for instance'as is shown by the patent to Willis B. granted February 28th, 1911, #985,705. The pinion 1 of applicants de vice could Vbe preferably attached in theA same manner and to the same part as the pinion 19 of the above mentioned patent. Pinion 1 meshes with a sector 2, which is fastened to a block 3 through which passes the shaft' ,the ends of which, 5 and 6, are cone shape i:1nd may be inserted in any suitable fixed bearings so that. the sector 2 may, with the shaft 4, oscillatethereon. The member 3 has an outstanding portion 7. Upon ythe shaft 4 are placed the arms S and 9 so as to be freely movable about the axis of the shaft 4 and which bear upon their outer ends the. Weights 10 and 11 respectively; the arms have a projecting portion 12, adapted when the arm is in normal position to rest against the edges 13 of the member 7. When in normal position the weights 10 and 11 are just clear of the plate 141, but a slight 'movement downward of either of the weights 10 or 11 brings them in Contact with the fiked plate 111 so that they rest thereon.

Attached to member 3 is the upstanding a'rm 15, which by means of the pivot pin 16 connects with the arm 17 which is attached to the wooden insulating member 18 by means of the screws 19. The insulating member 18 is pivoted at either end as by means of the pivot pin 20, the support for the pivot pin being member 21, a fragment ofwhich 1s shown. The member 22 is fastened to the upper face of the member 18 and has two knife edge bearings 23 and 24 against which rests the :rigid member '25 spring pressed there against by means of the spring' 2G which is tensioned by means central position.

of screw 27, which is screw threaded into the member 1S. The member 25 bears upon its outer end the rigid contact fingersl 2S and 29.v The' contact finger 2S is adapted to touch Contact 30 when moved upwardly and the contact finger 29 is adapted to touch contact 31 when moved downwardly.

If the pinion l is revolved inthe direction of the arrow a, the sector 2 will move in the direction of the arrow consequently the link 15 will move in the direction ot' the arrow c, and the finger29 will touch contact 31. The extent of movement ot the pinion 1 is such, that the contact finger 29 is not only causedto' touch contact 31, but is caused tov bear quite firmly against contact 31 and4 to slide thereon. This effect is produced by the continued motion of the pinion-1 after' the contact finger 29 touches contact 31, which causes the knife edge bearingr 2l to move downwardly from in contact with the member 25, so that the member 25 bears` only upon the knife edge bearing 23 and at the same time 'the spring 2G is compressed. After the finger29 is moved so as to touch contact 31, if the turning torque exerted upon the pinion 1 is witlulrawn, the contact finger' 29 will'be brought back to the position as shown in the figure by the action of the weight 10, for when the sector 2 moved in the direction of the arrow I), about the shaft.

4, as a pivot, the member 3 carrying with it the projection 7 contacted with arm S carrying the weight 10 so that when the turning torque exerted upon pinion l is withdrawn, the weight 10 acting through the projection 7, brings the member 3 together with the link 15 and the operated parts back to the As the contactl finger 29 was pressed firmly and resiliently against contact 3l, as soon as the txnningtorque exerted upon the pinion l is withdrawn, there is a tendency caused by the t'orce ol springr 26 to return the parts toward normal position.

The weights l0 and 1l, when in normal position, have their center ot' gravity below the horizontal axis of the shatt, consequently, when the, sector 2 is moved. thereby oscillatingr the projection 7 and either the weight 10' or 'l1` the torque exerted by the particular weight moved, gradually increases-as the weight is moved upwardly, tor the effective lever arm is increased by the upward movement so that it becomes a maxi mum when either the arm S or 9, according to the direction in which the sector moves, is in a horizontal position. 'ln the t'ull reverse. position of the sector. however, arm S or 9, accordingr to which weight is moved. is above the horizontal position, consequently, the torque exerted by the weight l0 or t, as the case may be, is decreased l'r'om its maximum value in proportion to the eine ot the angle that the arm rises above the horiaontal position. mg to move the sector back to the normal position, is, however, the same, for as soon- The counter-torque tend-.-v

as either arm 8 or 9, according to the direc-l tion of the movement of sector 2,`reaches the horizontal position, the contact finger 28 f of a moved weight such as 10 or 11 is a sinecurve, which reaches its greatest value when the lever arm is at a maximum, which in this particular case, is when the arms 8 or 9 assume a horizontal position, so that if'the` weight is moved through such an angle that the torque reaches a maximum and then decreases, some other means must then be used to increase the torque as the torque ofV the .weight decreases, which in this case is done by the use of spring 26, thus the counter torque of the device as constructed, would. be approximately a straight line having its' maximum value when'the parts are in the extreme moved position, and having` its minimum value when the parts are in lthe neutral or central position. The difference betweeiathe maximum and minimum value ot the torque, however, is very sli ht, so that.

in a relay movement constructe as herein shown and described, the amount of current needed to start. the relay is approximately the same as the value below winch the current must t'all in order to have the parts return to normal position. Such a construction. therefore, gives an almostideal relay and one which is responsive to the slightest changes in current strength. It must be readily seen that the use of a spring would not allow one to obtain the mode ot operation and the functions described, for the torque curve of a spring is a straight line, consequently, if a spring were attached t o sector 2, the tension exerted by the spring would uniformly increase with the arc of movement ot the sector 2, so that, after a contact finger touched a contact, and further movement took place, the counter-torque tending'to return the sector to normal posi# tion would increase very rapidly with further movement, so that, when the parts are in the moved position a slight drop in the current needed to move the relay would canse it to start to return to normal position, hut as soon as the contact finger left the contact, the returning torque would suddenly drop whereupon the current then being of sutiicient strength to move the sector against 'the returning torque, the contact linger tact; which' would immediately raise the returning torque so that the sector would again all back and the result would be that considerable arcing would take place be' tween the contact finger and the contact.

If `the pinion 1 is turned in a direction opposite to the arrow a, then the sector 2 :jvill move in the direction opposite to the arrow b, about the shaft 4 as a pivot and inso doing will move link downwardly, that 1s,- in a direction opposite to the arrow c, and will cause the finger '28 to touch the contact and in so doing the weight 11 will be raised so that when the. torque exerted ,member 25 may be connected to the other end -of the circuit, so that when member 25 through the contact finger 28 touches contact 30, the-broken circuit will be completed. The sameholds true of contact finger 29 and contact 31. It must be seen, therefore, that one circuit maybe closed by the operation o'f aprelayin one direction and another'circuit-b 4'the Operation in another'direction and w lenne turning torque is exerted upon the pinion 1, both circuits will be broken;

It is to be further observed that at all times while the member 25 is out of normal position it is acted upon by either the weight 104 or 11 to return it to the normal central position. It is to be further observed that when one weight is acting, the other weight Ais resting upon the plate 14 and takes no part in the movement excepting that when the sector 2 returns to its normal position from a moved position by means ot either the weight 10 or 11, the sector goes but very little beyond the central position, for it it is being acted upon by the weight' 1l as soon Vas the member 25 reaches the central position the edge of the projecting member 7 strikes the arm of the weight 10 and so absorbs the momentum imparted by weight 11 to the sector and so quickly brings -the sector to rest. For it must be readily seen that as soon as the sector 2 has reached the normal vposition any further movement toward the other reverse position is prevented by a weight and a slight movement only beyond the normal suffices to allow a weight to rest vupon the plate 14 so that after the' sector 2 has been returned to the normal -position by weight 11, it is no longer acted iupon by weight 11 if it passes beyond the normal position toward the other reverse position, and as 'the sector 2 and the member 3, to ether wit-h the projection 7 are lvery muc lighter than thel weight 10, they are quickly brought to rest.

' In some casesit would be' desirable to use -thesector shown fora two position relay, in

which it would merely be necessary to remove one of the weights and toso adjust the contact arm 25 that. when in normal position itwould rest against either the contacts30k or 31. vIn such case the contacts wouldbe held firmly together byv the action of the, weight which was retained, as the parts would be so. adjusted that the weight would not rest upon the vplate 14.- luntil after suitable pressure had been exerted bythe weight in bringing the two normally closed contacts together.

lt is to be observed that `applicant has constructed a three position relay movement in which the contacts are. brought to the central position from either reverse position byv the action of gravity and that entire dependence has not been placed upon springs er such other mechanical returning devices which are liable to break and so cause a ifalse the weightsv 10 l'and 11 after being placed in the mechanism, is fixed and' unvariable.

Applicants invention as embodied in the concrete form herein shown, makes possible the employment of weights instead of springs, thereby overcoming the serious ob.- jectlion' heretofore noted. lApplica-ntfs construction, however, allows one to obtain advantages not to be obtained by the use of springs. This is due tp the fact thatby employing the construction as herein shown, and making use of a weight to return the parts to normal, a much more rapid movement may be obtained without introducing so much resistance to the actuation of. the relay by the operating means to which it is connected. A spring exerts its greatest pulling force when fully distended and when returnin to normal position at which time there s iould be no appreciable force 'eerted by it, it rapidly loses its pulling force, but when a weight is used, gravity acts as a uni formly accelerating force to return the weight displaced to the normal positionso that the final part of amovement to normalL` position is at a more rapid rate than the'ini- I tial part of a movement, although the turning torque exerted by the weight as constructed by the applicant is greater at the nitilal part of the movement than at the ortion of the movement due to the f act at the wel ht, when in normal position, vis,belmttha orlzontal axisuponwhich iso it is pivoted. Applicant, is, therefore, by

trated the preferred physical v'embodiment l secure by Letters Patent,is:

Having thus described my invention and `explained the principle thereof and i11usthereof, what I claim as new and desire to l. In a..r elay movement, a pinion adapted for oscillation, a sector engagin .with said pinion, a 'shaft for pivoting sai sector for' oscillation, arms extending 1n opposite directions from said shaft loosely mounted thereon and makingan angle less' thanpne4 .Lliindred andl eighty degrees with each other,

both -arms lying below a horizontal line .throughl the said shaft,.weights attached to the arms, a' member oscillating wit-hthe sector disposed below the arms -against which the are adapted to 'rest in normal position,

a p ate below the weights against which they are 'adapted torest when free,.a link connected to said member oscillatin with the nected to the link.

sector, 4and means for closing a clrciiit con- 2; In a relay movement, a member adapted to` be oscillated, vcircuit.` closing means .operated by said member, xneans for creating exllal counter torque upon said member, w en moved 1n either'dlrection, sald means consisting of two weights acting in opposite vand means to 4preventzone of saidjwei'ghts directions, and oneresilient means having one line of action only. f f

3. A relay movement, a member adapted to be oscillated, circuit closing means operatedby said member, a weight acting to prevent oscillation of said member in one direction, .another weightactin to revent oscillation of said member te ot er direction,

acting while .the other acts.

4., In a relay movement, a pinion adapted Y for "rotation, a sector engaging with said pnion, nmeans forpivoting said sector 4for oscillation, a weight raised 4.by the sector upon oscillation in' one direction, a weight raised by the sector upon oscillation in' the other directioxnand means connected to'said sector to close a circuit `upon movement either' direction. l 65 5. In a relay movement, a memberadaptf' ed to be oscillated, a weight-attached to...said, member with its center of gravity blow' its e axis "oioscillation when in normal position,

and adapted to'lb'e. moved Aso that the center 6.0 of gravlty is above said shaft, a movable contacty lconnectedfto said member, aiired contact in the pathfof movement-'of'- saidmovable contact, `resilient means interposed between saifd' movable contact and' said mem-A member increases approximately uniformly. WINTHROPKHOWP 'Witness} es 9" LmLuN-L. PHILLIPS, Damm.

sa fber, wherebythe;countertorque'uponsaid'f 

